Reflection: Advice to the Girls Ulittles

[Anonymous]

Juggle juggle juggle
Ball and a wall
See if you can get an opportunity to play with or train with the boys once a week.
Stay in a small club that emphasize development until U11 or U12. Make a move at U13.
Play futsal. Real trained futsal, not futsal with her soccer team

[Anonymous]

I agree with a lot of the recommendations. At the younger ages, stay with a club that is close to home and values development over winning (particularly technical skills development).
You and your child will know when you’ve outgrown a club/league.
Try a variety of different sports. Rec basketball and futsal are great cross training and help with positioning and speed of decision-making. Swimming builds cardiovascular stamina. Dont be the parent that signs them up for soccer training every weekend and every break. That is a recipe for burnout and an empty wallet.
Like I said, there may be a time to move and it will be obvious, but don’t burn bridges with coaches and club staff. NOVA soccer is a small community and everyone talks.

[Anonymous]

It’s all about the coach. Not the club or the wins. Find the best coach. Some of the other things come along with a good coach but not always. Also, as others have noted, be honest about your kids athletic ability. After a few years you will probably be able to understand whether they are an elite athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pick a club that practices close to your house and stick with them. The grass is not greener at whatever flavor of the month everyone is trying to play for. It just takes longer to get there.

Worst advice I've ever read in here. There are God awful clubs everywhere and not every club is best suited for every player. Find a club that is willing to invest in your kid not just take your money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Juggle juggle juggle
Ball and a wall
See if you can get an opportunity to play with or train with the boys once a week.
Stay in a small club that emphasize development until U11 or U12. Make a move at U13.
Play futsal. Real trained futsal, not futsal with her soccer team

This is the answer. Sad it took so long to find.

[Anonymous]

If you have a technical girl play for a club that values technical and speed of play. Otherwise you are wasting your kids time.

[Anonymous]

Focus on their weaknesses more than their strengths at home but make it fun if you want team movement. Also, beyond being 'realistic about athleticism' help your child enjoy the game and want to improve. The drop rate for 'naturally athletic' kids in sports is high. Others catch up and those that don't work on improving when younger suddenly aren't the best on the field leading to a loss in interest in the sport. If your kid loves soccer focus in that and improvement in skills (whether ball skills, power, or speed) and ignore the self important parents. Travel sports culture is extremely toxic.

[Anonymous]

Juggle. Use your non-dominant foot more.

[Anonymous]

^100 percent.
Also: the best kids are picked by U12. If not on top team somewhere, will be nearly impossible to move up.
Don’t let her suffer with a mean or bad coach.
Don’t keep her on a team if she’s not playing most of the game at that age.
It’s all about confidence. Let her hog a ball a bit. Selflessness gets you nowhere in girls soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^100 percent.
Also: the best kids are picked by U12. If not on top team somewhere, will be nearly impossible to move up.
Don’t let her suffer with a mean or bad coach.
Don’t keep her on a team if she’s not playing most of the game at that age.
It’s all about confidence. Let her hog a ball a bit. Selflessness gets you nowhere in girls soccer.

Also, this is 100%

If I knew now at u11 what I wish I would have known at u8 (Yes, we started travel at u8 and played a year up early with our local club.); then I would have switched her to a feeder ECNL club or straight ECNL club earlier. We stayed a 1-2 years too long at our local club because my DD was not ready to switch. (Didn't understand why.) But now we did switch and the tops teams are slammed full of kids. All very good kids. Our local club did not have the development or intensity needed to level my player at all. Now, we have to hope that about 10 other kids who arrived here before us either move out of the area, switch clubs or start to suck somehow. Otherwise, even with loads of hard work, we are still behind a lot of kids who had better development and behind in terms of longevity at priority at the club.

Do what you have to do to not get stuck on a ECNL RL team or a GA-II team. None of those teams get a lot of college exposure. None of those teams or players get recommended for much anything. I'd hate to get stuck on that level of a team (often kids are there, because they are stuck there and there is no room to move up), I'd switch to a club that has the club you want for college recruiting now.

(The exception to that is parents who know their kid is super athletic, bigger, faster and stronger than their peers.... they won't have to worry about switching early...they usually get picked at try outs for which ever team they go to... this take is based that observation 3 times over.)

And yes, keep working on juggling... that is a skill that showcases and encapsulates a kid's dedication to the sport to the coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^100 percent.
Also: the best kids are picked by U12. If not on top team somewhere, will be nearly impossible to move up.
Don’t let her suffer with a mean or bad coach.
Don’t keep her on a team if she’s not playing most of the game at that age.
It’s all about confidence. Let her hog a ball a bit. Selflessness gets you nowhere in girls soccer.

Also, this is 100%

If I knew now at u11 what I wish I would have known at u8 (Yes, we started travel at u8 and played a year up early with our local club.); then I would have switched her to a feeder ECNL club or straight ECNL club earlier. We stayed a 1-2 years too long at our local club because my DD was not ready to switch. (Didn't understand why.) But now we did switch and the tops teams are slammed full of kids. All very good kids. Our local club did not have the development or intensity needed to level my player at all. Now, we have to hope that about 10 other kids who arrived here before us either move out of the area, switch clubs or start to suck somehow. Otherwise, even with loads of hard work, we are still behind a lot of kids who had better development and behind in terms of longevity at priority at the club.

Do what you have to do to not get stuck on a ECNL RL team or a GA-II team. None of those teams get a lot of college exposure. None of those teams or players get recommended for much anything. I'd hate to get stuck on that level of a team (often kids are there, because they are stuck there and there is no room to move up), I'd switch to a club that has the club you want for college recruiting now.

(The exception to that is parents who know their kid is super athletic, bigger, faster and stronger than their peers.... they won't have to worry about switching early...they usually get picked at try outs for which ever team they go to... this take is based that observation 3 times over.)

And yes, keep working on juggling... that is a skill that showcases and encapsulates a kid's dedication to the sport to the coaches.

You have a U11 kid who needs to jump 10 players in order to make your ECNL team, yet you’re trashing ECNL-RL.

Who’s going to break the news to this guy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^100 percent.
Also: the best kids are picked by U12. If not on top team somewhere, will be nearly impossible to move up.
Don’t let her suffer with a mean or bad coach.
Don’t keep her on a team if she’s not playing most of the game at that age.
It’s all about confidence. Let her hog a ball a bit. Selflessness gets you nowhere in girls soccer.

Also, this is 100%

If I knew now at u11 what I wish I would have known at u8 (Yes, we started travel at u8 and played a year up early with our local club.); then I would have switched her to a feeder ECNL club or straight ECNL club earlier. We stayed a 1-2 years too long at our local club because my DD was not ready to switch. (Didn't understand why.) But now we did switch and the tops teams are slammed full of kids. All very good kids. Our local club did not have the development or intensity needed to level my player at all. Now, we have to hope that about 10 other kids who arrived here before us either move out of the area, switch clubs or start to suck somehow. Otherwise, even with loads of hard work, we are still behind a lot of kids who had better development and behind in terms of longevity at priority at the club.

Do what you have to do to not get stuck on a ECNL RL team or a GA-II team. None of those teams get a lot of college exposure. None of those teams or players get recommended for much anything. I'd hate to get stuck on that level of a team (often kids are there, because they are stuck there and there is no room to move up), I'd switch to a club that has the club you want for college recruiting now.

(The exception to that is parents who know their kid is super athletic, bigger, faster and stronger than their peers.... they won't have to worry about switching early...they usually get picked at try outs for which ever team they go to... this take is based that observation 3 times over.)

And yes, keep working on juggling... that is a skill that showcases and encapsulates a kid's dedication to the sport to the coaches.

You have a U11 kid who needs to jump 10 players in order to make your ECNL team, yet you’re trashing ECNL-RL.

Who’s going to break the news to this guy?

If only he had paid for more private training sessions when his child was 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pick a club that practices close to your house and stick with them. The grass is not greener at whatever flavor of the month everyone is trying to play for. It just takes longer to get there.

Worst advice I've ever read in here. There are God awful clubs everywhere and not every club is best suited for every player. Find a club that is willing to invest in your kid not just take your money.

Keep chasing + waste your life in a car driveing to and from practice of a sport most kids will quit by the time they get to high school.

If your kid is truly exceptional opportunities will make themselves available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^100 percent.
Also: the best kids are picked by U12. If not on top team somewhere, will be nearly impossible to move up.
Don’t let her suffer with a mean or bad coach.
Don’t keep her on a team if she’s not playing most of the game at that age.
It’s all about confidence. Let her hog a ball a bit. Selflessness gets you nowhere in girls soccer.

Also, this is 100%

If I knew now at u11 what I wish I would have known at u8 (Yes, we started travel at u8 and played a year up early with our local club.); then I would have switched her to a feeder ECNL club or straight ECNL club earlier. We stayed a 1-2 years too long at our local club because my DD was not ready to switch. (Didn't understand why.) But now we did switch and the tops teams are slammed full of kids. All very good kids. Our local club did not have the development or intensity needed to level my player at all. Now, we have to hope that about 10 other kids who arrived here before us either move out of the area, switch clubs or start to suck somehow. Otherwise, even with loads of hard work, we are still behind a lot of kids who had better development and behind in terms of longevity at priority at the club.

Do what you have to do to not get stuck on a ECNL RL team or a GA-II team. None of those teams get a lot of college exposure. None of those teams or players get recommended for much anything. I'd hate to get stuck on that level of a team (often kids are there, because they are stuck there and there is no room to move up), I'd switch to a club that has the club you want for college recruiting now.

(The exception to that is parents who know their kid is super athletic, bigger, faster and stronger than their peers.... they won't have to worry about switching early...they usually get picked at try outs for which ever team they go to... this take is based that observation 3 times over.)

And yes, keep working on juggling... that is a skill that showcases and encapsulates a kid's dedication to the sport to the coaches.

It's not 'we' You are not playing, your kid is. If your kid needs 10 other kids to leave the club, I don't think you have to worry about colleges scouting them

[Anonymous]

The question was what should OP not do, or do, now. Above answer is right and fair. If you want the best team and best college chances, you have to get there early, whatever it takes. I saw a FIVE YEAR OLD with a private trainer. Yes really.
My DC is stuck on RL for exactly that reason. She COULD HAVE made NL if we had know all this early on. That’s the PPs point (and mine).